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Hands-on Program, Exciting Field

Undergraduate Biology at Illinois Tech in Chicago

Biology paves the way for inventions and discoveries that vastly improve our quality of life. Biologists make discoveries that help to safely feed the world, find new sources of fuel, determine ways to effectively treat disease, and campaign to save species on the brink of extinction. If any of this sparks your interest, Illinois Tech is the perfect place for you to cultivate your curiosity. Our undergraduate degrees offer stimulating coursework that will prepare you for careers in biotechnology, biochemistry, law, research, and a variety of health professions.

You can earn your bachelor’s degree in biology, biochemistry, or bioinformatics, or earn a dual degree in biology and psychology. Premed, honors law, and honors pharmacy programs are available, as are co-terminal degrees (combined bachelor’s and master’s degrees) in biochemistry plus food safety and technology; biochemistry plus biology; biochemistry plus computer science; or biology for both the bachelor’s degree and master’s degree. There are three dual-degree programs that offer pathways to a medical career in osteopathic medicine, pharmacology, or optometry.

You will have the opportunity to work collaboratively with distinguished faculty on research. You might:

use the beamlines at Argonne to help to unravel the mechanisms of muscle contraction and regulation

study cellular signaling and behavior to provide a foundation for diagnosis and treatment of human diseases, such as cancer and diabetes

develop and use software tools that help researchers determine and analyze the three-dimensional structures of large biomolecules

determine the structures of bacterial and eukaryotic protein

do comparative genomics, with an emphasis on finding the elements that distinguish obligate pathogens from their free-living relatives

study how pest insects adapt to biotech crops and insecticides and how the interactions with the plants they eat affects the evolution of insects

study the metabolic strategies and host-pathogen interactions of harmful bacteria such as Chlamydia trachomatis and Vibrio cholerae, a gastrointestinal pathogen, studies essential to the design of selective antibacterial drugs

characterize multi-domain proteins, including dystrophin, the product of the largest human gene.

In your spare time, you will be encouraged to participate in many co-curricular biology student groups and activities that will supplement your coursework, while allowing you to build lasting friendships and connections with your classmates.

And you will do it all in a warm, caring community of teachers and students who learn from one another every day.

When all is said and done, you will leave IIT feeling satisfied with your experience, and ready to take on your next step, like recent IIT graduates Henna, Alex, Raghav, Pooja, and Ethan!

Like a Challenge?

an artist’s conception of the details of the structure of a cell membrane

an X-ray crystallographic analysis of a small portion of the structure of the hemoglobin form the bacterium Vitreoscilla

a three-dimensional depiction of how lactic acid is produced in muscle during strenuous activity

none of the above

The actual answer is (b). X-ray crystallography is an important technique by which the most intimate details of the structures of biological molecules, including proteins, can be determined. The outer edges of the shapes shown above represent the outer edges of the electron clouds of a number of atoms in a small portion of a particular bacterial hemoglobin. The discovery of hemoglobins in bacteria has been an unexpected but very important advance in understanding how bacteria that infect humans try to escape the immune system, and has also contributed significantly to advances in biological production of dozens of important compounds.